Staycation Souvenirs!

All vacations require souvenirs, even if you don't go anywhere.

For our vacation, Bill got:

Fire brick.


5/8 inch rebar. This was a super fun souvenir because it only comes in 20 foot lengths, which is too long for our little truck. So, Bill had to cut three pieces with a hacksaw at the lumber/rebar yard. It was like going to a carnival and watching my man complete the feats of strength game...but instead of getting a dumb stuffed animal as a prize, I got rusty rebar!!!

Bill also got some scotch - which is sort of the his only instant payoff souvenir. The rebar and firebrick represent work for now, but will be awesome in a few weeks.

I got...

Two bags of stinky wool! We went to sunny Ohio for a fiber festival yesterday and I bought two fleeces. On the left is 7 pounds of Lincoln Longwool. It is such a lovely gray. Lincoln is typically used for outerwear, and isn't really considered next-to-skin soft. Everything I've read says this will be harsh when I spin it up (though some people make it into socks). Right now, it feels super soft though, so I'm excited to try and see what happens. Plus, the sheep it came from was named Sunshine. That sounds sounds happy and lovely, doesn't it?

I also have 3.5 pounds of Icelandic fleece. Bill is lobbying hard for our sheep to be Icelandics. I like that they are really hardy and seem low-maintenance. I'm not sure about their fleeces, though. I have a sweater from Iceland (which is presumably made with Icelandic wool) and it's pretty scratchy. Bill has a blanket from the same trip...which he named Scratchy.

I've heard that Icelandics in America are bred for their fleeces, though, while Icelanders focus more on meat and conformation. The fleece looks downright odd:

It's dual coated, which means it has two different types of fleece. The long stuff is called Tog and the fluffier short stuff on top is Thel. They can be separated and spun individually, or spun all together. This fleece came from a lamb named Pig.

Finally, our last souvenir is my favorite. Our first delivery of wood:

Goal progress (subtle)

Gradual change is difficult for me. It's boring. Bore. Ing. One of our 2011 goals is to make the upstairs landing adorable. So, I'm painting it. It's boring. The landing connects with the hallway upstairs and down and we like it in a light color. But painting with light colors is BORING!

See! You can't even see the progress. Snooze!!

It's nothing like making a blue bedroom orange. Or taming a crazy pink guest room with a calming yellow. Or a turning a poop colored bathroom into fresh Irish spring green.

It's changing from beige to...greyish beige. Fortunately, the color change is more visible from some angles, or else I'd go batty. Bat. Tee. (New color on the right)

Also, it's making the current grimy walls all shiny and new. See all that muck on the lower part of the right wall:

That's not new gray paint or shadows. It's old, oily fingerprints. Eww.

In other goal-related news...I drove the truck back from town yesterday! I stalled a few times in the parking lot, and I kinda drive like a cautious old lady. But, I'm still driving.

My February project for the Self-Imposed Stash Club didn't work out. I had some very picky, lovely yarn that refuses to be anything right now but yarn. For March, the randomly chosen project was socks for Bill. This yarn is the very first I purchased at a yarn shop. Never knit with it because it's boring and Bill has very large feet. Nearly two months later, I'm about this far:

April is much more exciting. Another long-held yarn - my first Creatively Dyed yarn. It is becoming Aquaphobia (this is a Ravelry link, but I think common people can get there now?).


And, I'm spinning. I've moved from cheap merino I've dyed myself:


To a merino/raw silk blend dyed by people way better than me.

Shiny!

THIS!

Today was the sort of day for opening all the doors in the house and drying roving and sheets on rope strung between trees.


The sheets, you will note, are not flannel. This is a milestone. Also, the roving is green. I am craving some green. Fortunately, Mother Nature is obliging.



It was also the sort of day for having dinner outside. Homemade bread, local cheese and salami and the very, very last of the wine we brought back from New Zealand. Cards too. We always play cards when eating dinner at a picnic table. It's a thing. Should you ever eat dinner on our picnic table, expect to be presented with cards.



Today was also the sort of day for replacing fuel lines chewed on by red squirrels. Mmmm. Gasoline coated rubber is so delicious!

Warm weather update...

A tree fell on our truck. There is only cosmetic damage to the roof - didn't chip the paint or crack the windshield, thankfully.


One of the different things about living in a solid brick house is temperature regulation. The bricks take a long time to cool off or heat up. This is lovely in the early summer. Being inside is typically like being in a cool basement.

It is less lovely in the spring when it is warm outside but the heat doesn't penetrate the bricks. Today is one of those days where we opened the doors to warm up the house. It's in the mid-60s and sunny. Lovely!

Sugar and I took advantage and spent some time in the hammock with Shakespeare.




But I know this weather won't last, so mittens and socks will still be knit!



This mitten will be for Anne-Marie. She picked out the purple/blue/orange yarn at Rhinebeck. It wasn't looking so great on its own, so I held it double with the goldenrod yarn I dyed earlier this fall and alternated it with stripes of just goldenrod.

Signs of Spring

Perhaps the inevitable madness that comes in March (Go Orange!) is perfectly timed to coincide with the spring fever that makes any outside job, no matter how tedious, seem fun and desirable. We are preparing for a few days off at the end of the month, which means a trip to Tractor Supply in the new truck!!

We'll be preparing the garden, including much needed fencing. Last week Sugar flushed and then chased a small pack of deer and one very frightened squirrel out of our woodlot. Then last night, Bill and Sugar were snorted and stomped at by an aggressive buck who may have been jealous of their charm and good looks.

We're also planning to build a chicken coop and start on winter firewood.

Some proof that spring is arriving: Bill pressure washing in a t-shirt and some crocuses!

Small Farm = Small Truck.

On account of the new great depression and all, Ford is practically giving away cars. Seriously. There are some unbelievably good deals to be made with increasingly desperate car salesman. The price on this was less than what some folks that I know paid for a USED Ranger just a few years ago. Here's Captain Jack, our new Torch Red Ford Ranger. Bonus points if you can figure out why it is called Captain Jack... We traded away our green Saturn, the car that I spent countless hours sitting in stuck in traffic on the DC beltway. All of those horrid memories can now leave me, and stay with the car. I hope the next owner deals with less traffic in it than I did.

Sugar is afraid to jump up into the bed of the truck. She prefers to ride in the cab.